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University of Illinois at Chicago endorses BDS

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University of Illinois at Chicago Student Government votes unanimously to divest from Israeli occupation

The Undergraduate Student Government Assembly of the University of Illinois at Chicago voted unanimously on Monday (February 15th, 2016) to pass a resolution urging the university to divest from corporations profiting off of the Israeli occupation and other human rights violations.

The resolution aims to end UIC’s complicity in investments within multinational corporations that actively profit and enable human rights violations, including G4S, Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Foxconn. Within the resolution, UIC Divest also emphasized transparency, urging the university to share its investment portfolio with the public, and establish a role for students on the Board of Trustees investment committee.

UIC Divest is a student led movement on campus, made up of 24 organizations, calling on UIC to divest from all human rights violations. This vote comes after several weeks of campaigning by the UIC Divest coalition to mobilize the student body, gathering more than 800 signatures in support.

In 1987, UIC partially divested from apartheid in South Africa, in response to mass pressure from the student body. Thus, UIC has a history of divestment and a longstanding commitment to social justice. The resolution passed is indicative of UIC Divest’s commitment to pressure UIC to uphold its commitment to socially responsible investments.

“This vote comes after weeks of hard work by UIC students to raise awareness on campus. We held multiple workshops, actions, events, and tabled for days in the student center, gathering hundreds of signatures on a petition, in order to ensure that students were informed on the issue. We are ecstatic that USG did the right thing in voting unanimously to divest, withstanding pressure from opposition and outside lobbyist organizations.” said Ahmad Albanna, USG senator and UIC Divest organizer.

While tonight’s divestment vote is an important step in the divestment movement, we recognize that this is just the beginning. We are committed to working towards urging the university to divest wholly from the Israeli occupation and all forms of oppression of marginalized communities, and to uphold the demands of its students.

Groups endorsing the boycott of products made in Israel’s illegal and racist settlements include:

Ray Hanania is an award winning political columnist and author. He covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992. Hanania began writing in 1975 when he published The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper which was distributed through 12,500 Middle East food stores in 48 American States (2004-2007).

Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues for the Arab News in Saudi Arabia at www.ArabNews.com, and for TheArabDailyNews.com, and TheDailyHookah.com.

Palestinian, American Arab and Christian, Hanania’s parents originate from Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media;In 2009, he received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. Hanania has also received two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild, and in 1990 was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

His wife and son are Jewish and he performs standup comedy lampooning Arab-Jewish relations, advocating for peace based on non-violence, mutual recognition and Two-States.